Borrowing Guidelines

Lakeland College's libraries are open to all and everyone is welcome to use and access our library collection and services.

Lending rules exist to ensure access to and sharing of library resources.

Your borrowing privileges may be suspended for:

failing to return items recalled for another borrower
misuse and/or abuse of library equipment, library materials or library staff

Who can borrow materials

Registered students are eligible to borrow library materials.
Eligible faculty members, staff and community members may also borrow library materials.
Eligible students and faculty from other NEOS member libraries/institutions.

As a borrower, you are responsible for all materials signed out on your cards.

How long can I borrow an item?

Eligible (registered) Lakeland College students can borrow items from the library collection for a 4-week period with 4 renewals.

There are exceptions:

If a hold has been placed on the item, it can't be renewed and must be returned to the library promptly.
Reserve items have specific and varying loan periods. Those periods will be shown when you access them.

Do borrowers have access beyond the college library?

Yes. Being part of the NEOS Consortium gives you access to all the NEOS libraries.

You may use your library barcode to request items from any NEOS library.

Registered students can also walk into any NEOS library and sign out library materials.

Check out a list of all the libraries in NEOS Consortium.

Fees for overdue, damaged or lost materials

Fees are assigned to your library account when an item:

isn't returned by the due date
is damaged
is lost

You received several notifications about the item; system-generated messages go to your email account to remind you about the return date and overdue library materials.

Messages are:

a heads-up 3 days before an item is due
reminder on the due date
2 overdue notices at 2 and 7 days overdue

Lost materials and replacement costs

Any item not returned after 31 days is assumed lost.

After 31 days, monthly notices are sent to your email account stating overdue materials are presumed lost and a replacement cost has been billed to your account.

Replacement costs will be for the same format of the assumed lost item (hard cover book, paperback, DVD).
This charge is a default price and may not represent the actual replacement cost for the item.
Assumed lost items will be billed for current replacement cost of the item as well as a processing fee of $15 which is applied to your account with the exception of fiction items.
For fiction books, you may provide a replacement copy of equivalent quality and similar condition to the one lost.

Damaged materials and replacement costs

Damages to library materials include but are not limited to:

highlighting
underlining
writing in the book
missing pages

Replacement costs and processing fees will be applied to damaged library materials.

Refunds for returned materials

A refund may be granted for the return of lost materials.

Refunds are only granted within one year of the original payment of your lost item charge.

Found material must be returned directly to the library service desk or mailed directly to the library. Once it has been received, the refund process will start.

Blocking accounts

Your library account and your account in other college systems will be blocked until all outstanding issues, including fines, are resolved.

Account inquiries/fines appeal process

If you feel a charge was applied unfairly, you have the right to appeal. For example, if:

you returned an item but it still appears on your account
you continue to receive overdue notices for an item that was returned
you want to appeal a fine

Before you fill out the form, please note these aren't acceptable reasons for appealing a fine:

lack of awareness of library policies
forgetting the due date
not renewing on time
failure to receive a courtesy heads up or overdue notice
inability to renew online. Please contact the library if you encounter problems.
not returning recalled materials because you are out of the country. Please notify the library if you will be away.

To appeal on other grounds, please use the online library appeals form. Forms must be filled out:

accurately and completely
with specific details about which charges you are appealing, including an explanation describing why you believe that these charges should be adjusted or canceled

Most appeals are resolved within 2 business days. Others take longer if a comprehensive search of library shelves and library system records is needed.

Appeal decisions will be sent to the email provided on the form.